Business

McDonald’s customers say they have been turned away from restaurants around the world, including in the UK, after the fast food chain was hit by major IT problems. British diners have complained about restaurants being shut, despite many being able to place orders through the company’s app. McDonald’s Japan has halted all operations at most

The four largest gas boiler manufacturers face a competition inquiry after imposing price hikes of around £100 on customers to offset potential fines for missing clean energy targets, the government has confirmed. In a move first reported by Sky News last week, energy secretary Claire Coutinho has asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to

John Lewis has returned to profit for the first time in three years but staff face another year with no bonus. The company behind Waitrose grocery shops and the John Lewis department stores recorded a profit of £56m, after a loss of £234m in the previous financial year. The John Lewis Partnership is employee-owned by

The government is expected to commit to banning foreign governments from owning British newspapers and magazines, effectively blocking an Abu Dhabi-led takeover of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph and Spectator magazine. Sky News understands the commitment will see the government pledge to ban the foreign state ownership, influence or control of newspapers and news magazines

Growth returned in the UK economy in January, according to official figures. The measure of everything produced in the UK – a metric called gross domestic product (GDP) – rose 0.2%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. It’s the first official economic growth announcement since a recession was declared last month as there were

The minister responsible for the UK’s sanctions against Russia has told UK carmakers to check their supply chains after Sky News analysis suggested luxury models were finding their way to Moscow showrooms via ex-Soviet states. Foreign Office minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan told a committee of MPs the report was a prime example of the “whack a

Wages are rising less than expected and unemployment surprisingly rose, official figures show – but likely not fast enough for interest rates to come down. The rate of unemployment tipped up slightly to 3.9% in January, when it had been forecast by economists to remain at 3.8%. Pay growth has also slowed more quickly than

The Premier League has failed to secure agreement for a new financial settlement for English football amid a continued stalemate between its clubs. Sky News has learnt that a planned vote at a shareholder meeting on Monday afternoon was scrapped after it became clear it would not win support from the required majority of 14

British Land, the London-listed property giant behind some of Britain’s most prominent commercial real estate assets, will this week name a City banking veteran as its next chairman. Sky News has learnt that the company, which owns Broadgate in the City of London and Sheffield’s Meadowhall shopping centre, has lined up William Rucker to replace

Scrapping the non-dom tax status for wealthy foreign nationals is “an utter humiliation for this government”, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has said. “The last budget of this parliament – they’ve had 14 years and they use this moment to close a non-dom tax loophole that everyone has been aware of for years,” Ms Reeves told

Premier League bosses are this weekend scrambling to finalise a landmark £836m financial settlement just days before the publication of legislation to establish English football’s first statutory regulator. Sky News has learnt that the 20 top-flight clubs, which include Aston Villa, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, will on Monday be asked to approve a revised version

Plans to impose targets for electric heat pump sales on gas boiler manufacturers could be confirmed as early as next week, after fierce debate within government and intense lobbying from industry to abandon the policy. Sky News understands energy secretary Claire Coutinho had intended to ditch the policy, known as the Clean Heat Market Mechanism

A minister has admitted that the government’s desire to scrap national insurance could take “several parliaments” to achieve as confusion over the policy mounts. In his budget earlier this week, Jeremy Hunt slashed national insurance by 2p and said the government intended to scrap payments entirely, branding them “unfair” and a “double taxation” on work.

An influential committee of MPs has called on the government to legally mandate the inclusion of pay scales in job adverts and ban hirers from asking for employment history as efforts to tackle sexism in the City of London “are moving at a snail’s pace”. A litany of failings, including the “shocking” extent of misogyny,